Hospital names director for infection prevention

The Reading Health System has a new medical director for infection prevention.

Dr. Debra Powell started in the position Monday after serving as chief of the infectious disease section for the health system.

Powell replaces Dr. Robert Jones, who is pursuing a new career with Quest Diagnostics in Virginia.

Powell joined Reading Health in July 2008 and is a provider with Reading Health Physician Network — Infectious Diseases

She currently serves on several committees with the health system, including the Reading Health System Professional Practice Evaluation Committee, the Reading Health Physician Network Quality Improvement Committee and the Reading Health System Infection Control Committee.

Powell, along with Jones, also co-hosted a “Good Thyme for Life” fundraiser for Co-County Wellness Services.

She completed a two-year fellowship in infectious diseases from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, following a three-year internship with Reading Hospital.

Jim Miller just loves people who can’t keep a secret. In fact, as the self-proclaimed “chief cook and bottle washer,” not to mention owner, grape grower and winemaker, at Moon Dancer Winery, Ciderhouse and Taproom near Wrightsville, York County, the Berks County native’s livelihood depends on it. He said people stop in all the time and realize they’ve stumbled upon a gem, then go through that internal tug of war over whether to let others in on their little secret. More often than not, they do. The winery’s picturesque location — it’s perched on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River — combined with its libations, food and entertainment are plenty to keep people coming back once they’ve made their way there. And really, finding the place isn’t that difficult at all.

Once you arrive, you may feel like you’re far from anywhere, but in reality you’re just a few miles off the beaten path where Route 30 bridges the Susquehanna, linking Lancaster and York counties.

A long road to winery owner

Miller grew up in Pennside and graduated from Exeter High School in 1982, then got a degree in forestry and worked as a bond trader for 20-plus years before stumbling — somewhat literally — into the winery business.

After buying eight acres of farmland in 1994 for its scenic view, then building a house on it, he bought 1,800 California grapevines and planted them on five acres behind his house to escape the rigors of mowing grass.

The vines took off, aided by the topography and microclimate associated with being situated so close to the river.

Before long, Miller was selling his harvest to area wineries, including Pinnacle Ridge and Manatawny Creek in Berks County. Meanwhile, he had started dabbling in winemaking, and he kept adding more vines year after year.

Late one night, on the long drive home from delivering grapes to wineries, he turned to his parents, the Rev. Jim and Janet Miller, with this revelation: “We were doing all the work, and they were having all the fun.”

He decided then and there that instead of selling the grapes, he was going to start his own winery. By 2004, it was up and running in an inviting French country-style structure with a spacious 17-foot-deep cellar that was plenty big enough to grow into instead of out of.

But this was where the stumbling came in.

On the eve of the grand opening, Miller and a friend were carrying the next day’s main course — a pig — in a bin full of ice to its final resting place, when one of them — there’s disagreement as to whom — dropped his end of the load and Miller’s foot suffered the consequences.

He made his away across the river to Columbia Hospital, where he explained his misfortune to the emergency room physician. The diagnosis came back: a broken toe.

“We opened up at noon (the next day),” Miller said, smiling at his own predicament, “and at 1 o’clock these two couples came in, and we said, ‘Hey, how’d you hear about us?’ because we only had a couple of little signs along the road. They said, ‘We were just over at the Columbia Hospital, and the nurse said some guy opened a winery and dropped a pig on his toe last night.’ ”

For Miller, it was lesson learned.

“One of our strategies from the beginning,” he said, “has always been that word-ofmouth is our best advertising.”

A destination winery

Spreading the word about Moon Dancer, a name that harkens back to the Susquehannock tribes that once populated the area, and the splendor of the moon shimmering off the waters below, hasn’t been too much of a problem.

Miller recalled striking up a conversation one day with a man who was standing on the patio overlooking the river and talking on his cellphone.

“He said, ‘This is one of the best kept secrets,’ ” Miller said, “so I said, ‘Don’t keep it a secret.’ And he said, ‘I was trying to, but I just called two of my friends to come up and meet me here.’ ”

That seems to be the way it goes at Moon Dancer, which draws day-trippers from as far north as Long Island and southern New England and as far south as Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

“We get people from those outlying areas, and nine times out of 10 when they come back, they have two or three other people with them,” Miller said.

The destination’s draws are many, starting, of course, with the wine.

Miller has purchased adjoining parcels of land through the years and now owns 40 acres — “it’s some of the best agriculture soils in the whole world,” he said — on which he grows eight varieties of grapes: cabernet franc, merlot, pinot noir, shiraz, chardonnay, riesling, chambourcin and cabernet sauvignon.

His wines range from dry to semi-dry to semi-sweet to sweet, the latter bottled under the Moondog Cellars label, with each named for four-legged friends of the winery. Rocky’s Mango, for instance, is named for Miller’s friendly sidekick, an Australian shepherd who handles onsite pizza-crumb cleanup without complaining a lick.

There are also four hard ciders, 10 taps for local and regional beers and spirits from Lancaster’s Thistle Finch Distillery.

Food comes out fresh and locally sourced from a woodfired pizza oven Miller and a friend built by hand from scratch off the side of the patio. It heats to 900 degrees and cooks thin-crust pies

the sauce and dough are house-made — in about two minutes.

Miller said he dubbed the oven Ta Ta Kua, a Paraguayan Indian word for fire hole, on the say-so of a customer from that South American country who told him they have been using similar ovens there for thousands of years.

Weekend entertainment at Moon Dancer is plentiful. Acoustic duos and trios perform free of charge every Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and every Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.

In addition, a concert series begins May 13 with the Moon Dancer Rock the Arts Fest and continues periodically through October. These events, which range from jazz to blues to country to reggae, typically have an admission fee, with tickets available at the door or in advance by calling the winery.

“We wanted a place where people can come and not just stop in and get a good bottle of Pennsylvania wine, but also stay for a while and make some friends and enjoy the afternoon,” Miller said.

He seems to have no regrets about leaving the corporate world behind in favor of his jack-of-all-trades gig at Moon Dancer, even though it’s really hard work.

“It’s about eight days a week,” he joked, “but you get the rest of the time off.”

James Seidel will celebrate his concert, “A Few of Our Favorites,” Sunday April 30, 2017 at 3 p.m. in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading. The program will include two guest soloists: cornetist William Stowman, trumpet professor at Messiah College, and alto saxophonist Alexandra Vargas, the 2017 winner of the Ringgold Band Young Artist Award.

After finishing the remainder of the season, Seidel will step down; meanwhile, the band is in the process of searching for a new director, he said. He said his decision to retire “wasn’t because anything went wrong; it’s because everything’s been going right.”

“The direction is good,” he said. “I have such great memories created by this band that I was able to share with my students.”

He was band director at Exeter High School until he retired in 2010.

Seidel was a 16-year-old studying trumpet with the late Walter Gier when he first played with the Ringgold Band. Gier suggested he perform in a 1967 concert by the band when Albertus Meyers, a former John Philip Sousa Band cornetist and director of the Allentown Band from 1926 to 1976, came to Reading to guest-conduct.

“After that, I was hooked,” Seidel said. “I was at every rehearsal and played every job I could, even while I was in college.”

A 1969 Exeter High School graduate, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Mansfield University and a masters in trumpet performance from West Chester University.

He became a cornet soloist for the band and then, in 1980, its conductor.

“I’ve gotten to play with Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band and toured with them, and I’ve had a lot of other great experiences,” Seidel said. “I’ve had an incredible ride, and a lot of it is because of the Ringgold. I found my passion as a young kid, and there’s a long list of people of Berks County who were supportive of me.”

The 165-year-old band is one of the oldest in the country, and “people did this because of their love and passion for playing great band music,” he said.

“When you walk into the building we own (at 3539-A Freemont St., Laureldale), and see the pictures on the wall, and realize you’re making history every time you walk in that door, it’s a very exciting thing,” he said.

During his tenure, many soloists have played with the band, including Jim Smith, a trombonist from Oley, who used the Ringgold to get back to playing after developing a medical condition and now plays in the Chicago Symphony; and Carol Jantsch, principal tubist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Seidel said that in planning Sunday’s concert, he asked members to submit their favorite pieces to him. He said he received enough for a seven-hour concert, but narrowed it down by choosing pieces that showed up on more than one list.

Among the works on the program will be Alfred Reed’s “Armenian Dreams,” Gustav Holst’s “First Suite for Military Band” (number one among college band directors), the Overture to Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes’ opera “Il Guarany,” Percy Grainger’s arrangement of “Irish Tune From County Derry” (also known as “Danny Boy”) and “The Rose Variations,” for solo cornet and band, by Robert Russell Bennett, featuring Stowman.

Seidel also chose a new favorite of his own: the rarely heard “The Cry of the Last Unicorn” by contemporary American composer Rossano Galante. This piece tells the story of a unicorn who is the last survivor of a slaughter of unicorns by human beings; he is hunted and killed, and the horses, outraged, stampede the humans.

“It creates vivid pictures of what that would look like in sound,” Seidel said.

Seidel said that after he retires, he looks forward to playing in ensembles in which he’s not in charge, writing a definitive history of the Ringgold Band and spending time with his eight grandchildren.

Karin Wulkowicz, right, is Berks County’s new master watershed steward coordinator, and will work with volunteers to protect the region’s water supplies. She will work with Kathryn Keppen, watershed coordinator for the Berks County Conservation District, to recruit and train watershed volunteers.

Karin Wulkowicz of Cumru Township has been named as Berks County’s first master watershed steward coordinator and will lead the county’s new Master Watershed Steward program, set to start next year.

At the Alvernia University President’s Dinner on Thursday, where awards were presented, are, from left, the Rev. Philip Rodgers, Franciscan Award; Mary Lou Kline, Ellen Frei Gruber Award; Rabbi Brian Michelson, Franciscan Award; Dr. Thomas F. Flynn, Alvernia president; Dan Langdon, representing East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc., Pro Urbe Award; Kevin P. DeAcosta, Distinguished Alumni Award; and Elsayed Elmarzouky, Franciscan Award.

Alvernia’s Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a person who demonstrates the valuable contributions to profession, community and nation. DeAcosta is president of The Highlands at Wyomissing and serves on the boards of Dayspring Home Inc. and the Muhlenberg Soccer Association. He’s also a volunteer tutor for the United Way of Berks County’s Ready.Set. Read! program.

Chip Lutz has done it again.

The Berks County golf legend captured his third British Senior Amateur title in thrilling fashion Friday at England’s Formby Golf Club.

The LedgeRock Golf Club member birdied the first hole of a three-way sudden death playoff to earn one of the biggest prizes in senior amateur golf.

“My game was a bit wiggly today,” Lutz said. “But I had a good stretch in the middle and the putt at the last was just perfect. I’ll definitely be back to defend next year.”

Lutz, 61, drained a 25-foot birdie on the extra hole to defeat American Brady Exber, the 2014 champion, and Scotland’s Graham Bell. Lutz shot a final-round 75 for a 4-over total of 220 over 54 holes.

Each of Lutz’s last two major victories has had a special connection to his mother, Janet. Friday was Janet’s 90th birthday.

Last fall, when Lutz won the U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club in New Jersey after losing in the semifinals three times, Janet saw him compete for the first time.

“That was some finish,” Lutz said of Friday’s round. “It’s a great way to celebrate Mom’s birthday. I’ll be calling her straight away.”

Lutz started the final day one shot behind Scotland’s John Fraser, who dropped out of contention after an early triple bogey.

The rest of the final round featured many lead changes.

Lutz, who won the British Senior Amateur in 2011 and 2012 and also has a pair of Canadian Senior Amateur titles, will have little time to savor his victory.

He’ll travel to Columbus, Ohio, for next week’s U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club.

Lutz’s U.S. Senior Amateur victory helped him earn exemptions to several big championships, including the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Amateur.

He’ll play in the U.S. Amateur Aug. 15-21 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.